The killing of Toba Ajiboye, popularly known as Ijaya and the organising secretary of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Lagos State Council, has once again drawn attention to a disturbing and recurring pattern of targeted violence against associates of NURTW national president Musiliu Akinsanya, widely known as MC Oluomo.
Ajiboye was ambushed on Sunday night, July 12, as he made his way back from Fadeyi, his childhood neighbourhood in Lagos.
Armed men intercepted his vehicle along the Ikorodu Road axis and opened fire repeatedly, leaving it riddled with bullet holes across both the windscreen and body.
Early accounts suggested that Ajiboye and others in the vehicle had survived with gunshot wounds, but he subsequently succumbed to his injuries at St. Nicholas Hospital on Lagos Island.
Reacting to the killing, MC Oluomo described the attack as heinous, barbaric and unacceptable, urging the Nigeria Police Force and other relevant security agencies to investigate the murder, apprehend those responsible and bring them to justice without delay.
The NURTW president himself is no stranger to violence. In January 2019, Akinsanya was stabbed during a political rally held in Ikeja in support of then-governorship candidate Babajide Sanwo-Olu, when suspected thugs clashed and a shootout broke out, also injuring journalists from The Nation, New Telegraph and a television cameraman who were present at the event.
Ajiboye’s killing marks the third publicly documented case of a close associate of MC Oluomo losing his life to targeted violence.
The full list of his allies who have been assassinated is as follows:
1. Olayinka Mamora (Mamok) In September 2015, Olayinka Mamora, an aide of Akinsanya popularly known as Mamok, was killed inside a barbershop in the Oshodi area of Lagos.
In 2019, two men, Ayuba Balogun and Evans Adamson, were ordered remanded by a Lagos State Magistrates’ Court sitting in Igbosere over the alleged murder and related firearms offences.
2. Sulaimon Onaolapo (Ariku) In August 2022, Sulaimon Onaolapo, known as Arikuyeri or Ariku, was killed by suspected cultists near Mile 12 in the Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos.
Reports identified him as the NURTW chairman for that area and a figure within MC Oluomo’s union network.
3. Toba Ajiboye (Ijaya) The most recent victim, Ajiboye was ambushed and shot on July 12, 2026, dying from his injuries at St. Nicholas Hospital on Lagos Island.
His killing has once again raised urgent questions about the safety of those operating within Lagos’ highly volatile transport union space.
